"Jeff" wrote in message
...
Capt. Rob wrote:

We were also aboard a Gemini 105m yesterday....interesting boat,
though smaller. Build quality looked pretty good. The owner claimed he
hit 14 knots on a reach.

The quality seems to be getting better - we rejected the Gemini because of
poor quality/finish; the one we saw in Newport at the '94 show looked like
it was pulled off the line a few days before it was completed. Although
one did an Atlantic crossing (with much fanfare), the rumor was that they
might not have made if they didn't have a factory engineer on board, and
people came off muttering "never again"! I was also a bit freaked when I
kept finding mentions of propane leaks caused by using RV quality propane
fridges that rusted in the marine environment. On the other hand, as a
sheltered water cruiser, (Chesapeake, LIS, etc.) they're not that bad.

As for 14 knots, that shouldn't be too hard on any modern cat that isn't
loaded down, if you go looking for wind. During our first summer (before
we added an extra 1000 lbs of crap) we hit 13+ a number of times reaching
in about 22 knots, and were sustaining 11+ consistently. And as I've
said, we have the heavier LRC, plus cruising sails (heavy main with stack
pack, high cut 115% jib). This was also "low effort sailing," with my
wife reading magazines, me on the stern bench with the autopilot remote,
and the kid probably watching videos. The factory guys always talked
about 17 knots, but I never wanted to put in the work to do that! If you
really want speed, one PDQ was built for the CEO's brother that had a
dagger board instead of keels, a tall rig, one outboard, and leaving out
as much weight as their new CAD software would permit. The result was a
real speed demon, but the price I saw on it was pretty high.

If you really want speed, the tri's (such as the Corsair) are the way to
go. A bit short on the accommodations, but you can be fairly confident
you'll get an exciting ride almost every time out.


In your previous post, you mentioned the Seawind 1000... nice boat, although
I wasn't impressed with the accomodations, especially the galley-down. It's
possibly smart for a passage, since you'd be able to brace yourself (which I
suppose could come up even with a stable boat like this), but I find it
restrictive and uncomfortable, which is one of the main points of sailing a
cat. I've not sailed a PDQ. It's on my list.

I've sailed the 1000 many times out here... sustained 25kts air, typically,
and we regularly got into and sustained double-digit speed. I like the
double triangular spreaders, which increased the stability of the rig,
certainly felt that way. At one point, we were sailing in over 30kts with a
full main. It didn't seem to struggle but we did finally reef her down.


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com